In 1904, on this 25 acre site between the Chippewa River and the Soo Line Railroad tracks, sugar processing became a new industry in the Chippewa Valley when the Chippewa Sugar Company was incorporated and a huge six-story sugar beet factory was built at a cost of $700,000. Sugar beets were promoted as especially suited to growing conditions in Northern Wisconsin and as a crop that went hand in hand with dairy farming. Local farmers experimented with planting rows of sugar beets, and the harvested crop often produced heavy roots, with a single specimen weighing 10 pounds and its leaves an additional 3 pounds being common. This new cash crop boosted area farmers in the 1910's and 1920's. In its heyday, seven railroad spur lines entered the sugar plant, and the heavy railroad tonnage made Chippewa Falls one of the most important shipping points on the Soo Line main track from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Milwaukee. The company was later renamed the Chippewa Sugar Refining Company. The plant employed 250 people and could process 600 tons of beets daily. By the mid 1920's, however, many farmers in the region were difficult to convince that sugar was a worthwhile enterprise, and they did not grow enough beets to keep the factory operating. In November of 1927, the factory was sold at a sheriff's sale to bond holders who held $120,000 against property then valued at $590,000, and it was eventually torn down.